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Sujoy K Das Gupta

Bose Institute, University of Delhi - South Campus, University of Calcutta, St. Xavier's College (Calcutta University), The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler

ORCID iD 0000-0002-7200-3652
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About

1982 - 1987:
Prof Sujoy K. Das Gupta started his research career in the year 1982 as a junior research fellow at Bose Institute. His mentor was the reputed molecular biologist and biochemist, late Prof R.K. Mandal of the Department of Biochemistry, Bose Institute. His major goal was to clone and characterize the rRNA genes of catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis). His studies revealed the organization of these genes in this fish and how they are expressed. The title of his PhD thesis was: "Cloning and Characterisation of the rRNA genes of the Catfish Heteropneustes fossilis. "

1987 - 1990:
After obtaining his PhD, Prof Das Gupta went abroad and joined the lab of Dr. G.C.Das as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Texas Health Centre At Tyler, Texas USA. Here, Prof. Das Gupta worked in the area of molecular cellular biology. His project was targeted towards understanding how the growth of certain DNA viruses such as the mouse polyoma virus gets restricted in undifferentiated cells, but not in differentiated ones. His work led to the identification of several protein factors that bind to the regulatory region of these viruses.

1991 - 1994:
After returning from abroad he joined the laboratory of Prof. Anil K. Tyagi as a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Biochemistry, University Of Delhi South Campus. There was a major shift in his research interest during his tenure at the UDSC. He was introduced to the area of molecular biology of mycobacteria, by Prof. Tyagi. Various species belonging to the genus mycobacteria, M. tuberculosis for example, are deadly pathogens and therefore understanding their molecular biology was extremely important. However, the tools available to genetically engineer mycobacteria were sparse in those days. Prof Das Gupta, took up the initiative of studying the mechanism by which mycobacterial promoters functioned, and then used the information obtained to develop vectors that could be used to transform mycobacteria and express foreign genes in them efficiently. The vectors pSD5 and pSD7 developed by him have been used extensively in India and abroad, and there are numerous publications mentioning the use of these vector. The development of these vectors provided a firm platform for the Indian molecular biologists working in the area of TB, to launch their various programs including those related to the development of vaccines.


1994 onwards:
In 1994 January Prof. Das Gupta joined Bose Institute as a faculty member of the Department of Microbiology. He continues to be a member of this department and is currently serving as its Chairman. At Bose institute his research program is mainly targeted towards understanding the DNA replications mechanisms of bacteriophages and plasmids of mycobacteria. Considering that these entities are used often used to genetically engineer mycobacteria for the sake of developing vaccines and understanding their molecular biology, therefore understanding their molecular biology is of importance. A major program in his lab is investigation into the replication mechanism of pAL5000, a mycobacterial plasmid. While investigating this aspect Prof. Das Gupta’s lab came out with a series of novel findings. Thus, his lab first demonstrated that the folding properties of polypeptides are enhanced remarkably if their synthesis occurs in a translationally coupled manner. The other novel outcome of his investigations, was the finding that, that there is most likely an evolutionary connection between replication and transcription as there are many interesting similarities between how the replication proteins of this plasmid pAL5000 function and the way the transcription machinery acts.

In the area of Mycobacteriophage research Prof. Das Gupta has investigated how mycobacteriophages interact with mycobacteria, by using mathematical and experimental tools in collaboration with Dr. Soumen Roy of the Department of Physics Bose institute. His research has given new insight into how mycobacteriophages infect mycobacteria causing their death. Two publications in which he was the corresponding author were selected as spotlight articles in the journals, Journal of Bacteriology and Applied Environmental Microbiology.

Employment

  • Bose Institute CSIR Emeritus Scientist
    2022 - Present
  • Bose Institute Professor
    1994 - Present
  • University of Delhi - South Campus Post Doctoral Research Associate
    1991 - 1994
  • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler Post Doctoral Research Associate
    1987 - 1990
  • Bose Institute Research fellow
    1982 - 1987

Education

  • University of Calcutta MSc
    1979 - 1982
  • St. Xavier's College (Calcutta University) BSc
    1976 - 1979

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (9)